Tim Cook—DOJ filed antitrust lawsuit alleging Apple maintained illegal smartphone monopoly through App Store restrictions
In March 2024, the DOJ filed a landmark antitrust lawsuit against Apple, alleging the company maintained an illegal monopoly over performance smartphones (70% market share) by restricting third-party developers and limiting interoperability. Cook had previously testified to Congress that Apple treated all developers equally, claims that congressional investigators disputed as arbitrary and self-serving.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antitrust & Competition | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Consumer Protection | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.664 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)
Evidence (1 signal)
DOJ filed antitrust lawsuit alleging Apple illegally maintained smartphone monopoly
In March 2024, the US Department of Justice and 16 state attorneys general filed a landmark antitrust lawsuit against Apple, alleging the company illegally maintained its monopoly over 'performance smartphones' (70% market share) through App Store restrictions, limiting third-party app distribution, and suppressing cross-platform technologies.